{"id":699312,"date":"2026-01-23T16:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T16:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/699312\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T16:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T16:42:19","slug":"ranking-the-jets-defensive-coordinator-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/699312\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranking the Jets defensive coordinator candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Jets are searching for a new defensive coordinator. The team announced candidates<\/a> for the job a week ago. One of those candidates, Mathieu Araujo, is off the market. He was hired as the defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars this week.<\/p>\n

How do the other seven candidates rate? Here are my thoughts.<\/p>\n

Jim Leonhard, Denver Broncos, Assistant Head Coach\/Defensive Pass Game Coordinator<\/p>\n

Leonhard was a fan favorite as a player manning the Jets secondary and is viewed as a rising star in the coaching industry.<\/p>\n

Ok, maybe that isn\u2019t all that meaningful. The same was said about Aaron Glenn a year ago.<\/p>\n

Still, Leonhard checks a lot of boxes. He rose through the coaching ranks at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin. Eventually he became a highly regarded defensive coordinator and had a brief stint as interim head coach in 2022. After being bypassed for the full-time job, he spent a year at Illinois as an analyst before joining Sean Payton\u2019s staff in Denver a year ago.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t clear whether the defense he would run with the Jets would closer resemble the scheme he installed in Wisconsin or the one Vance Joseph runs in Denver. It could be a combination of the two.<\/p>\n

A number of his Wisconsin principles strike me as a good fit for Aaron Glenn and the Jets. Leonhard particularly liked to utilize simulated pressures. He would walk a potential blitzer down to the line of scrimmage. The blocking scheme would have to account for him as a pass rusher. Frequently the defender would drop into coverage. The offensive lineman assigned to block the potential blitzer still couldn\u2019t provide double team help to the man next to him until the drop into coverage was complete. Meanwhile, the back of the defense had sound coverage principles. This could be a nice balance between the stress Aaron Glenn wants to put on the offense and the modern principles that eluded the Jets defense under Steve Wilks.<\/p>\n

My biggest question is why Leonhard would want the Jets defensive coordinator job. He is in a cushy situation in Denver, widely respected in both the college and NFL worlds. He is a likely replacement for Joseph in the event the Broncos defensive coordinator gets a second chance at a head coaching job and could be on the fast track to head job himself.<\/p>\n

The monumental task of rebuilding the Jets defense with shaky personnel on a coaching staff that could be on the hot seat sooner rather than later doesn\u2019t strike me as a great career move. I guess we can hope Leonhard really loved his time with the Jets.<\/p>\n

Daronte Jones, Minnesota Vikings, Defensive Backs Coach\/Pass Game Coordinator<\/p>\n

Ephraim Banda, Cleveland Browns, Safeties Coach<\/p>\n

Both of these coaches have a decent profile for a potential first-time coordinator. They have coached relatively successful units and worked under good defensive minds, Brian Flores for Jones and Jim Schwartz for Banda. (For whatever it\u2019s worth, Flores type defense likely fits the mold Glenn wants better than Schwartz.)<\/p>\n

In a normal situation I would view either of these guys as solid candidates.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a normal situation, though. It is a massive turnaround project that has to be done quickly. The current Jets coaching staff just doesn\u2019t have much time. I\u2019m not sure how wise it would be to hire somebody without some defensive coordinator experience either in the NFL or at a major college program.<\/p>\n

Don \u201cWink\u201d Martindale, Former Defensive Coordinator, University of Michigan<\/p>\n

A lack of experience wouldn\u2019t be a problem for Martindale. He is a long-time NFL assistant who recently returned to the college game for a two years stint at Michigan.<\/p>\n

I think he is a decent coach generally speaking. I think fit matters as much as overall quality, though.<\/p>\n

Michigan fans had a lot of complaints about his stubbornness sticking to an aggressive defensive system even though he didn\u2019t have the personnel to run it effectively. There was also a lot of talk about how easy it is for modern offenses to exploit the units he runs.<\/p>\n

I think Martindale is a better coach than Steve Wilks, but this talk reminds me a lot of the issues the Wilks scheme had.<\/p>\n

If Leonhard would provide a bridge between what Glenn wants and the modern game, I fear Martindale would reinforce a lot of Glenn\u2019s worst tendencies and biggest weaknesses.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure if he gets the job, the Jets would emphasize units Martindale coached in Baltimore that had impressive statistical seasons and a recent season with the Giants where his defense led the league in takeaways. Those are resume points, though, not a predictor of future success.<\/p>\n

The Rest of the Candidates<\/p>\n

Chris Harris, New York Jets, Interim Defensive Coordinator\/Defensive Backs Coach\/Passing Game Coordinator<\/p>\n

Demarcus Covington, Green Bay Packers, Defensive Line Coach\/Run Game Coordinator<\/p>\n

Jim O\u2019Neil, Detroit Lions, Defensive Assistant<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t anything that stands out for me about any of these candidates. Of course sometimes a rising star coach can be hidden in a bad situation. It can be difficult to find opportunities to stand out.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s nothing obvious that suggests any of these coaches are likely to successfully rebuild the Jets defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jets are searching for a new defensive coordinator. The team announced candidates for the job a week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[7,226,1917,255,84552,90455,2321,2097,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-699312","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jets","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-jets","12":"tag-new-york-jets-analysis","13":"tag-new-york-jets-coaching-staff","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkjets","16":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115945415895517477","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}